The trail ahead...

I've been sick since last Sunday with the flu and have had to take 4 days off of training to try and recover. I attempted a strength/core workout today but was feeling really short of anything normal. Nonetheless it was still felt good on some levels to workout after laying around all week. I should be thankful as this has been my first full blown, snot-induced flu in about 1.5 years.

Last weekend, before I got sick, I was able to get out on the skinny skis for about a 3 hr ski. Ran into my friend and coach Katie just as I was leaving the hut at Pocaterra. I figure I had a 30 minute head start on her before she caught up to me...what an animal! Also ran into my good friends Chris/Jill who were also out and saw another buddy Darren on the ski out. All-in-all a great day and I can't wait for next week as I am scheduled for another ski...possibly even two.

Pending on how things shape up health-wise, I am slated to do a long run on Saturday and a big bike ride on Sunday. So far I am really liking all the cross training at this stage in training for my ultra trail marathons this coming summer. I am finding the change up mentally stimulating not too mention my body is not groaning from previous nagging injuries due to early season repetitive motions.

Few pics from last weekend...train hard and have fun my friends!

Pocaterra Trail

Chris & Jill

Katie  

Pocaterra Trail

Hamster Running

Well, it is sure-as-shit cold outside in this neck of the woods lately. I'm not complaining though as we have had it pretty warm weather up until now.

However, with the insanely cold weather I find myself making the trek down to the basement treadmill instead of layering up and hitting the outdoors for my runs. I really don't mind the cold that much - you can dress with enough layers, however my acl-reconstructed knee groans too much for my liking when I am stationary in the cold or when I come indoors after a jaunt outside.

We don't have the basement finished yet (or started for that matter) so I end up listening to some Trance Around The World podcasts while doing some positive visualization.

Training is going great with everything clicking at the moment. I have managed to get on a good sleep routine and are averaging 7.5 to 9 hours a night which is making a huge difference. Been running first thing in the mornings as I find night-times a little harder to get motivated. This week is a ski week so I am pumped to get out into the mountains for a 3hr rip on the classics.

Stay warm my friends.

It really is a small world in some ways...

Using Las Vegas as an example:

- In a race of over 40,000 the only people I sit and have conversations with before I toe the start line were fellow Canadians. And just for the record, I don't care where people are from...its just funny that of all the people I can sit and chat with before a race happen to be from Sask, Manitoba, Ont, AB, and even a fellow from Nova Scotia. My goal before every race is to talk to at least three strangers.

- Speaking of Saskatchewan...the last time I spoke to our friend Jenna from Toon Town was just over a year ago at the Victoria Marathon. Guess who we run into about 20 minutes before the start of the Las Vegas Marathon...what are the chances. Great to see you by the way Jenna!

- On the plane down to Vegas, Mel and I sit next to a couple of women from Okotoks. We chat back and forth quite a bit on the way and find out they are doing the half together. We made plans to meet up with them at one of the post race parties but that fell through due to the logistics nightmare post race. Anyways, last weekend I am skiing in Pocaterra in Peter Lougheed Park. A car pulls up next to me in the parking lot to the trails and two women get out - one asks me if she should wear sunglasses today. Its cloudy and I'm like WTF??? I look over and tell her it wouldn't be a bad idea to have them as back up. Her face looks familiar (I never forget faces)...and lo & behold it is the pair of friends we met on the plane down to Vegas...LOL.

- Lastly, two people whom I haven't laid eyes on since high-school - whom I know vaguely - happened to be in Las Vegas the same time as us and I passed them both on two different occasions in different places in Las Vegas....makes you wonder sometimes.

Mixed bag of nutz...

Scheduled training officially started this Saturday past...since then I have been running, cross-country skiing, strength training, swimming, and having boat-loads of fun.

I am really enjoying cross-country skiing so far this year and super glad to have it scheduled every second weekend. There is no way I could wait until the spring to hit up the mountains for some trail running - I just simply love being there - winter or summer.

My goals for this week:

• complete 100% of my workouts
• stretch, stretch, stretch
• get some heart-rate numbers to get my zones lined up for my next block of training
• continue getting 7-8hrs of sleep each night

In other news, we finally bought a second vehicle this past weekend. Ended up getting a Toyota Matrix with all wheel-drive. We've been without a second vehicle since our move to Nova Scotia in 2008. It was long overdue but we were waiting for the right time. I'm excited and can't wait for it to arrive next month.

Reno-wise, we have taken a break before starting the remaining bedrooms. I'm back in the garage mudding another section but it is a slow process and only happening on the weekends now.

Happy Tuesday!

Day 4 of 229

In case you are wondering the Day ## of 229...I am having brain farts lately when it comes to creating titles so I have set up a default, go-to title when I can't come up with something else. It is the current day in the line towards the Ironlegs 80km Ultra on August 18th.

So this week for me has been about transitioning into training again. Been doing a bunch of different workouts to get the feel of being active and to see what I want to incorporate into my training this year.

Coach Katie and I had an in-depth discussion last night over the phone about my goals for the next 4 weeks and the types of workouts to pursue. Based on our talk she has come up with a wonderful training regime for the next month. Primary focus is on quality and getting the body prepared for the quantity to come. I really like the cross training theme in it as this is a great time to do it.

Typical week includes 3 runs, 2 swims, 3 gym workouts, and either a bike or cross country ski. One of my personal resolutions for the New Year is to try and cross-country ski every other weekend. I find X-skiing one of the best cross-training sports to do in the off-season. As we move closer to spring I'll start running more and doing less x-training.

Outside of that, been going to bed a lot earlier these days, making small changes to my diet, and plugging away at house reno projects.

Happy Thursday!

Day 2 of 229

So my Facebook account was hacked this morning by someone - they then spammed everyone in my friends list with some sob story about being stuck in the UK and needing money to get home. Thankfully, none of my friends fell for it.

On top of that, when I managed to regain my account they were in the process of chatting with people online from my account before they got the proverbial boot.

I've never been hacked before but I have a few suspicions of where they might have gotten a hold of my info. My advice to anyone reading this is to keep your passwords a combination of special characters, upper/lower case, and numbers. In addition, I would avoid using any public computer (ie, at a hotel) or free wifi as it is super easy to steal information through those mediums.

They created the email account shannon.wicks75@yahoo.com which is NOT my email address. I have since sent an email to Yahoo and they are tracking down who was using this account and shutting it down.

Crazy shit.

In other interesting news, I was back in the water today for an easy 1000m swim. It has been many months since I've been to the pool and it was pleasantly nice.

Day 1 of 229...

I started back in the gym today with some upper body weight/strength training. The next 3 months I will aim to be in the gym 3x week for a short, intense muscular endurance workout with weights.

What I typically like to do is super-set two exercises where I can, working on a different body part - 2 sets of 10 - 15 reps of a light-weight with a 30 second break in between.

Today workouts was upper body focused:

• 5 minute warm up on stationary bike
• Shoulder/chest stretching with some light dumbells
• Bench press followed bicep curls
• Lat pull downs - one set of front pull downs immediately followed by a set of behind pull downs.
• Shoulder presses - font press followed by behind the neck press followed by some seated tricep extensions.
• Back extensions
• 3 different core exercises.

Total workout time is about 30 minute so it is quick enough to squeeze into your lunch break if you are able to sneak away from the office while working up a decent sweat.

I try to do at least one exercise per major muscle group, focus on taking my time on the negative reps, and typically alternate between the bars and dumbbells each week to mix things up.

I hoping the extra focus this year in the weight room will help with climbing trails this summer with poles.

Happy Monday to all you Type A, B & C lycra lovers out there!